Kazafi is working as a security guard at a hotel in Panchkula area on the outskirts of Chandigarh city. He is a resident of Dildar village of Karnah Tehsil close to the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan in Kupwara district.
Zafar Aafaq | Clarion India
KUPWARA – The Haryana police detained a Kashmiri youth on Saturday after he had shared a WhatsApp status of a Pakistani leader. Officials of the Panchkula police said that the accused, Mohammad Kazafi, has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days and lodged in Karnal jail.
Kazafi is working as a security guard at a hotel in Panchkula area on the outskirts of Chandigarh city. He is a resident of Dildar village of Karnah Tehsil close to the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan in Kupwara district.
Speaking with Clarion India from home, Kazafi’s father Bashir Ahmad Mir, a farmer, said that he got a call from a station house officer of Haryana police who asked him to come to Haryana and get his son bailed out.
Head constable of the police Station Chandimand said they invoked Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code and filed the case under FIR 264. The law deals with the cases related to offences that are prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and promoting enmity between groups.
The police filed the case against Kazafi after someone informed them that he had shared a WhatsApp status.
According to the complaint, Kazafi had put up a status showing a Pakistani leader giving a speech in which he speaks of Kashmir’s independence and praising Burhan Wani, the militant commander whose killing in 2016 triggered mass protests in Kashmir.
“It can create a situation of clash in the society and by encouraging divisive feelings can damage the integration of the country”, the complaint reads.
Kazafi’s father appealed to the authorities to release his son. “He is young and committed the mistake unknowing of the consequences.”
One of Kazafi’s brothers is a soldier in the Indian Army, Bashir said.
Fayaz Karnahi, a local activist in Karnal, also appealed to the police to consider Kazafi’s release. “They should have warned him and let him off without arresting.”
